2013 Moore tornado
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On the afternoon of May 20, 2013, a large and extremely violent EF5
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
ravaged through Moore,
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, and adjacent areas, with peak winds estimated at , killing 24 people (plus two indirect fatalities) and injuring 212 others. The tornado was part of a larger weather system that had produced several other tornadoes across the
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
over the previous two days, including five that struck portions of
Central Oklahoma Central Oklahoma is the geographical name for the central region of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is also known by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism designation, Frontier Country, defined as the twelve-county region including Canadian, Grady, ...
the day prior on May 19. The tornado touched down just northwest of
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at 2:56 p.m. CDT (19:46  UTC), and stayed on the ground for 39 minutes over a path, crossing through a heavily populated section of Moore. The tornado was wide at its peak. It followed a roughly similar track to the deadlier
1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado On the evening of Monday, May 3, 1999, a large and exceptionally powerful F5 tornado registered the highest wind speeds ever measured globally; winds were recorded at by a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar. Considered the strongest tornado eve ...
, which was smaller in size but just as severe; however, very few homes and neither of the stricken schools in the area had purpose-built storm shelters in the intervening years since the earlier tornado struck Moore.


Meteorological synopsis

On May 20, 2013, a prominent central upper
trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...
moved eastward toward the
Central United States The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern and Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the U.S. Census' definition of the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions of ...
, with a lead upper low pivoting over
the Dakotas The Dakotas is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna, sociology, econom ...
and
Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...
region. A Southern stream
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trough and a moderately strong polar jet moved east-northeastward over the southern
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to the southern
Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
and
Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...
area, with severe thunderstorms forming during the peak hours of heating. With the influence of moderately strong cyclonic flow aloft, the
air mass In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to la ...
was expected to become
unstable In numerous fields of study, the component of instability within a system is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds. Not all systems that are not stable are unstable; systems can also be mar ...
across much of the southern Great Plains, Ozarks, and middle
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by the afternoon hours. Evidence of an unstable air mass included temperatures in the low to mid 80s °F (27–30
°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...
),
dewpoint The dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor, assuming constant air pressure and water content. When cooled below the dew point, moisture capacity is reduced and airborne water vapor will co ...
s that ranged in the upper 60s °F (20 °C) to the lower 70s °F (20–22 °C), and
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values ranging from 3500 to 5000 J/kg. Deep-layer
wind shear Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizontal ...
speeds of enhanced storm structure and intensity. These were present ahead of a
cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Norther ...
extending from a surface low in the eastern Dakotas, southwestward to near the Kansas City area and western
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, and ahead of a
dry line A dry line (also called a dew point line, or Marfa front, after Marfa, Texas) is a line across a continent that separates moist air and dry air. One of the most prominent examples of such a separation occurs in central North America, especially ...
extending from southwest Oklahoma southward into northwestern and west-central
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.
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remnants from the previous night and the early day convection across the Ozarks and the middle Mississippi Valley were a factor in severe weather development with the most aggressive heating and destabilization on the western edge of this activity across the southern Great Plains and just ahead of a cold front. The National Weather Service office in
Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...
had warned as early as May 15 that there would be a possibility of severe weather on May 20. The most intense severe weather activity was expected to come across the southern Great Plains, specifically
Central Oklahoma Central Oklahoma is the geographical name for the central region of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is also known by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism designation, Frontier Country, defined as the twelve-county region including Canadian, Grady, ...
, during the afternoon hours on that Monday. As such, the
Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight a ...
issued a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms during the early morning hours of May 20 from southeastern
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to north-central Texas. The degree of wind shear, moisture, and instability within the warm sector favored the development of
supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (s ...
s. Very large hail and tornadoes were both expected with these supercells, with the possibility of a few strong tornadoes. The Storm Prediction Center issued a
tornado watch A tornado watch ( SAME code: TOA) is a severe weather watch product issued by national weather forecasting agencies when meteorological conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes. In addit ...
at 1:10 p.m.
Central Daylight Time The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...
(CDT) early that afternoon for the eastern two-thirds of Oklahoma, northwestern Arkansas, and portions of north-central Texas. Given the atmospheric parameters thought to be in place at the time, the Storm Prediction Center inadvertently underestimated the threat of tornadic activity that afternoon; the probability table for the tornado watch – the 191st severe weather watch issued by the guidance center in 2013 – indicated a 40% (or "moderate") probability of two or more tornadoes and a 20% (or "low") probability of one or more tornadoes reaching between EF2 and EF5 intensity within the watch area.


Storm development and track

The thunderstorm that eventually produced the tornado developed less than one hour after the tornado watch was issued, around 2:00 p.m. CDT, across northern Grady County. Its rapid intensification resulted in the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Norman issuing a
severe thunderstorm warning A severe thunderstorm warning ( SAME code: SVR) is a severe weather warning product issued by regional offices of weather forecasting agencies throughout the world to alert the public that severe thunderstorms are imminent or occurring. A sev ...
for northern Grady, northwestern
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, northern McClain, and southwestern Oklahoma Counties (including southwestern portions of the immediate
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
area) at 2:12 p.m. CDT. The thunderstorm quickly attained supercell characteristics, with rotation at the mid-levels of the storm's cloud structure becoming apparent even before it was officially classified as severe, due to the sufficient amounts of wind shear present over central Oklahoma. Due to the expected intensity of the storms, which were expected to be equal – if not, stronger – in severity to the supercells that produced the five tornadoes in the expected area of greatest tornadic threat the day prior, three of the Oklahoma City
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's five television news outlets −
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affiliate
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(channel 4),
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affiliate
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(channel 5) and
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affiliate
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(channel 9) − suspended normal programming and went into wall-to-wall weather coverage immediately after the tornado watch went into effect (
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affiliate KOKH-TV (channel 25) and
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affiliate
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(channel 30) began their coverage as the first severe thunderstorms erupted southwest of the state capital), and subsequently began relaying their audio feeds to radio stations throughout central Oklahoma. As the forecast suggested that the most significant severe weather would occur in the mid-afternoon, around the time classes concluded for the day, many worried parents began arriving at schools throughout Moore and south Oklahoma City to pick up their children in advance of the storm. At 2:40 p.m. CDT, as rotation in the supercell was increasing at the cloud base, a
tornado warning A tornado warning ( SAME code: TOR) is a severe weather warning product issued by regional offices of weather forecasting agencies throughout the world to alert the public when a tornado has been reported or indicated by weather radar within the ...
was issued for far northeastern Grady, western Cleveland, northern McClain, and southern Oklahoma Counties, as the storm approached the
Oklahoma City metropolitan area The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is an urban region in the Southern United States. It is the largest metropolitan area in the state of Oklahoma and contains the state capital and principal city, Oklahoma City. It is often known as the Okla ...
. The tornado touched down at 2:56 p.m. CDT in northwestern McClain County, near Long Drive and the southwest corner of the North Country Club Road and Northwest 32nd Street intersection, roughly northwest of downtown
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. Initially a narrow cone-shaped tornado, it first caused EF1 damage to a home and some trees before rapidly intensifying and striking a semi-rural subdivision on the north side of Northwest 32nd, where several homes were destroyed, two of which were leveled at EF4 intensity. At this point, the tornado began to grow rapidly in size, evolving into a large, wedge-shaped structure. Slight ground scouring began in this area, and several homes in a subdivision further to the northeast sustained EF3 damage. By 3:01 p.m. CDT, the National Weather Service issued a second, more strongly worded warning for the area: in a severe weather statement updating the existing tornado warning, the Norman forecast office declared a
tornado emergency A tornado emergency is an enhanced version of a tornado warning, which is used by the National Weather Service (NWS) in the United States during imminent, significant tornado occurrences in highly populated areas. Although it is not a new warning ...
for southern Oklahoma City and Moore as various storm spotters confirmed that the large, violent tornado was approaching the area. The Twin Lakes dual-polarization NEXRAD radar (near
Lake Stanley Draper Lake Stanley Draper is a reservoir in southeast Oklahoma City, United States. It is one of three municipal reservoirs in the city. It was constructed in 1962-1963, and named for the long-time director of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.
) detected a
tornado debris signature A tornadic debris signature (TDS), often colloquially referred to as a debris ball, is an area of high reflectivity on weather radar caused by debris lofting into the air, usually associated with a tornado. A TDS may also be indicated by dual-polar ...
one mile in diameter within the accompanying
hook echo A hook echo is a pendant or hook-shaped weather radar signature as part of some supercell thunderstorms. It is found in the lower portions of a storm as air and precipitation flow into a mesocyclone, resulting in a curved feature of reflectivity. ...
, as the tornado crossed into portions of south Oklahoma City in northern Cleveland County. The supercell also produced
straight-line winds In meteorology, a downburst is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system that emanates from a point source above and blows radially, that is, in straight lines in all directions from the area of impact at surface level. Capable of pro ...
of for at least one mile surrounding the tornadic circulation. The tornado maintained EF3 intensity as it crossed the
Canadian River The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .U.S. 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Canad ...
/ U.S. 277 bridge was severely damaged; this bridge had to be demolished after the tornado ripped part of it from its mount and tossed it across
Interstate 44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Fal ...
. The tornado then continued directly toward south Oklahoma City and Moore, roughly following Southwest 149th Street. At that point, it began to grow rapidly in width, and a second brief area of EF4 damage was noted near South May Avenue, where several homes were leveled, and one was swept clean from its foundation (this home was determined to have been nailed, rather than bolted to its foundation). A vehicle frame, engine block, and various other vehicle parts were found tangled within a grove of completely debarked trees in this area. As the tornado began to cross into south Oklahoma City, a traffic jam had occurred for a stretch of several miles along Santa Fe Avenue, as residents attempted to either escape from or pick up their children at schools located near the tornado's path. As the station's news helicopter was capturing live video of the tornado, then-KWTV chief meteorologist
Gary England Gary England (born October 3, 1939) is the former chief meteorologist for KWTV (channel 9), the CBS-affiliated television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. England was the first ''on-air'' meteorologist to alert his viewers of a possible torna ...
− upon seeing footage of the backup that was being relayed by pilot Jim Gardner − urged drivers caught in the jam that may have been listening to the station's audio simulcast on area radio outlets to use nearby streets to detour out of the tornado's expected track. The tornado weakened briefly to an EF3 before re-intensifying to EF4 intensity near Forman Drive, flattening several homes as it moved through mostly rural areas south of Southwest 149th Street. As the tornado struck an oil production site, four oil tanks were blown away, one of which was never found. The others were thrown considerable distances; one was found a mile away. The tornado maintained its intensity as it struck the Orr Family Farm and the Celestial Acres horse training area, where up to 100 horses were reported killed, some being tossed into and tangled in downed power lines or thrown on top of nearby buildings; several horses that survived the tornado suffered severe injuries, with some being impaled by tree limbs or boards. Every building at Celestial Acres was either leveled or swept away at EF4 intensity, the ground on the property was scoured to bare soil, debris from structures was granulated, and vehicles were thrown and stripped down to their frames. Surveyors noted that based on the contextual damage, the tornado was likely at EF5 intensity in this area, though the construction quality of the affected buildings only permitted an EF4 rating. A 10-ton propane tank on the Orr Farm property was picked up and thrown more than a half-mile through the air by the tornado, and a strip mall near the farm was completely leveled as well. The tornado continued east, heavily scouring an open grassy field before slamming into Briarwood Elementary School, which was completely destroyed. The NWS originally rated this damage EF5, but further evaluation and a 2014 study published by the American Meteorological Society revealed evidence of poor construction at the school, and the rating was downgraded to EF4. Remarkably, no fatalities occurred at the school. Two 12,000-gallon water tanks that were also swept off of the Orr Family Farm grounds were thrown into this area; the roof of Briarwood Elementary was struck by one of them − potentially aiding in compromising the building's structural integrity as it bent the steel girders that held up the roof − shortly before the main vortex struck the building, while the other fell onto and destroyed a home a few blocks east of the school. Past Briarwood Elementary, the tornado intensified even further and entered densely populated areas of western Moore, including the Westmoor subdivision where many well-built, anchor-bolted brick homes were flattened at EF4 intensity, and two were swept clean from their foundations, with damage at those two homes rated EF5. The tornado continued generally northeast at EF4 strength, completely debarking trees and leveling entire neighborhoods. Many homes were flattened in neighborhoods to the east of South Santa Fe Avenue. One anchor-bolted home that was reduced to a bare slab in this area was initially rated EF5, but was later downgraded to EF4 as closer inspection of the foundation revealed that the anchor bolts were missing their nuts and washers. The tornado then destroyed
Plaza Towers Elementary School Plaza Towers Elementary School is a public elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma, in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. It is a part of Moore Public Schools. Plaza Towers is located in southwest Moore within a neighborhood of the same name. The ...
at EF4 intensity, where seven children were killed when a cinder block wall collapsed on top of them. More than a dozen homes in a subdivision just to the south of Plaza Towers Elementary were swept cleanly away, though they were revealed to have been nailed rather than bolted to their foundations, and damage to this subdivision was subsequently rated EF4, though the tornado was likely extremely violent as lawns in this area were completely scoured down to bare soil. Entire blocks of homes were flattened, trees were completely debarked and denuded, vehicles were thrown and mangled, and the ground was severely scoured in other residential areas nearby, with the damage also rated EF4 in these areas. Most of the fatalities from the tornado occurred in the Plaza Towers neighborhood of Moore. In one of these houses (a block away from Plaza Towers Elementary), a woman was killed as she tried to seek shelter in a closet. Further to the northeast, at least a dozen cars were piled up against the front entrance of the Moore Medical Center, which sustained EF4 damage. One car was lofted and thrown onto the roof. Many homes in neighborhoods near the medical center were completely destroyed, including a row of four well-built brick homes with anchor bolts that were swept away, with damage to those four homes rated EF5. An open field directly behind this row of homes was deeply scoured, with only bare soil and clumps of dirt remaining. A nearby manhole cover was removed, and multiple vehicles were mangled beyond recognition and caked in mud in this area as well. The nearby Warren Theater was spared a direct hit, but still sustained considerable damage to its exterior. A bowling alley in the area was leveled, and a
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which was on the northern part of the damage path, was completely flattened with four people killed inside (including a three-month-old infant). The nearby Moore Cemetery was heavily damaged as well. The tornado briefly weakened and caused EF3 damage to some other businesses near
Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...
, before crossing and mangling several vehicles in the process. The tornado regained EF4 intensity on the other side of the Interstate as it tore through several neighborhoods and destroyed numerous additional homes (though the EF4 damage swath was narrower at this point). A large grassy field between two subdivisions in this area was scoured to bare soil, with wind-rowed structural debris and several mangled vehicles strewn to the east. One brick home on Hunters Glen Court sustained EF5 damage, with only the slab foundation and anchor bolts remaining. Very little structural debris or house contents was recovered from that residence, and the small amount of debris that remained was wind-rowed well away from the site. Two vehicles were also lofted from the residence, one of which was thrown over . The tornado continued through Moore's eastern neighborhoods. Highland East Jr. High's main building was spared, but the separate gymnasium building was completely destroyed, and a set of lockers from the structure was lofted and thrown a considerable distance into a nearby neighborhood. The Moore Public Schools administration building, a converted former hospital located a few blocks to the east, was also struck and destroyed. The tornado was noticeably narrower at this point, but was still causing a continuous swath of EF4 damage to numerous homes as it moved through multiple subdivisions. A well-built, anchor-bolted home at the corner of Heatherwood Drive and Southeast 5th Street was reduced to a bare slab, sustaining EF5 damage. A large, well-bolted-down home at the end of a private drive near South Olde Bridge Road was also swept cleanly away at EF5 intensity. Debris was scattered well away from the site, a vehicle was thrown over 100 yards, and wind-rowing was again noted at that location. Further east, the tornado weakened to EF3 strength and exited the most populated parts of Moore, destroying six industrial buildings and damaging two others. A final small area of EF4 damage was noted nearby as two homes and a concrete building were leveled. The tornado then began to rapidly narrow and weaken, snapping and uprooting several trees and causing EF2 damage to a farm just east of Moore, where the house lost its roof and an outbuilding was destroyed. A pickup truck slid away from the farm into a field while remaining upright. The violent updrafts in the supercell that produced the tornado lofted debris from homes and other buildings in Moore at least outside of the tornado's outer circulation, with reports of various objects and personal possessions being found as far away as
Midwest City Midwest City is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,371, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The city was developed in r ...
. At 3:35 p.m. CDT, the tornado dissipated at a nearby tree line about one-third of a mile east of Air Depot Boulevard.


Impact

The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management reported that 25 people were killed (with another death indirectly attributed to the tornado). An estimated 1,150 homes were destroyed, resulting in an estimated $2 billion in damages. The number of injured was 377. Entire
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s were obliterated, and houses were flattened in a large swath of the city. The majority of a neighborhood just west of the Moore Medical Center was destroyed. Witnesses said the tornado more closely resembled "a giant black wall of destruction" than a typical twister. Among the hardest hit areas were two public schools: Briarwood Elementary School and
Plaza Towers Elementary School Plaza Towers Elementary School is a public elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma, in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. It is a part of Moore Public Schools. Plaza Towers is located in southwest Moore within a neighborhood of the same name. The ...
. A preliminary study of Briarwood Elementary School conducted in September 2013 by a group of structural engineers found some structural deficiencies that led to its collapse during the tornado. Chris Ramseyer, a structural engineer and an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma determined that the building's walls that were not reinforced with concrete, there had been a lack of connection between the masonry walls and support beams in several portions of the building, and
anchor bolt Anchor bolts are used to connect structural and non-structural elements to concrete.. The connection can be made by a variety of different components: anchor bolts (also named fasteners), steel plates, or stiffeners. Anchor bolts transfer diffe ...
s were pulled from the ground by the tornado. Another engineer that was involved in the study stated that the deficiencies that Ramseyer pointed out were not uncommon building practices at the time, and that current building code standards would not ensure that Briarwood would have withstood winds in excess of 200 mph. At Plaza Towers, the second school to be hit, parents had been allowed to collect their children early in preparation for the oncoming storm. Therefore, by the time the tornado struck only about 75 students and teachers were in the building. Many students and teachers took shelter in bathrooms and closets, but in a newer addition to the building which housed the school's second and third grade classrooms, seven fatalities occurred. Third grade teacher Jennifer Doan was taking shelter with eleven of her students in a hallway when the tornado struck. Doan and her students were trapped when the walls of the corridor collapsed on top of them. Doan, who was two months pregnant with her third child at the time, suffered severe injuries to her back, but did not lose the baby. She and five of her students were pulled out, with the children suffering only minor to moderate injuries. Another six of her students along with a student from another third grade class died. The Moore Medical Center was heavily damaged, but no one present in the building was injured by the tornado. The center's staff had to relocate 30 patients to a hospital in Norman and another hospital. Part of
Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...
was shut down due to debris that had been thrown onto the freeway. On May 21, Moore still did not have running water. There were more than 61,500 power outages related to the tornado. More than 100 people were rescued from areas that sustained significant damage from the tornado. The
Oklahoma Department of Insurance The Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) is an agency of the state of Oklahoma under the Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner, a statewide elected official. The Oklahoma Insurance Department is responsible for supervising and regulating all insurance b ...
estimated that insurance claims for damage would likely be more than $1 billion. Some meteorologists estimated that the energy released by the storm could have been eight to more than 600 times greater than the
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dropped on
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.


Casualties

In addition to erroneous reports concerning the status of Briarwood and Plaza Towers students, various reports regarding fatality and injury counts as well as persons unaccounted for were circulated by traditional and
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
outlets in the immediate hours after the tornado struck, which could not immediately be confirmed or refuted due to communications disruptions in the affected areas or were the result of incorrect counting due to miscommunication of estimates. Within the first two days, it was reported that between 237 and 240 people had been injured, with the tally later increasing to over 350. The final count of injuries was later adjusted downward to 212. On the morning of May 21, the medical examiner's office incorrectly stated that 91 bodies of tornado victims had been received. This number was up from the earlier report of 51 bodies that were incorrectly stated as having been received. Upon the office's discovery that some victims were mistakenly counted twice due to communication errors made by Moore rescue response units that the bodies were admitted to area
funeral home A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral. Services ...
s (nearly all of the deceased were actually transported to the examiner's office in Oklahoma City), the actual number was revised downward and later confirmed at 24 tornado victims and two indirect victims. The first two deaths occurred in a house east of Briarwood Elementary School; one occurred near Santa Fe Avenue; seven occurred following a wall collapse at Plaza Towers Elementary; nine occurred within the neighborhoods mainly south of Plaza Towers Elementary; one occurred just east of Interstate 35; and one occurred in a home between Eastern Avenue and Bryant Avenue. A 90-year-old woman who suffered a fractured skull during the tornado later suffered a pair of strokes and died on August 5. On May 6, 2018, nearly five years after the tornado, a 14-year-old survivor who suffered
posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
after losing seven of his friends at Plaza Towers Elementary School committed suicide. The 2013 Moore tornado was the deadliest tornado recorded in the U.S. since the Joplin, Missouri tornado that killed 158 people in May 2011. Patients were taken to Integris Southwest Medical Center and The Children's Hospital at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. Over 140 patients, including at least 70 children, were treated at hospitals.


Aftermath

Oklahoma Governor The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the ''ex officio ...
Mary Fallin Mary Fallin (; née Copeland; born December 9, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 27th governor of Oklahoma from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected in 2010 and reelected in 2014. She was the first and s ...
declared a
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
on May 20. She held her first post-tornado news conference at noon on May 21. The
Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
deployed
urban search and rescue Urban search and rescue (abbreviated as USAR or US&R) is a type of technical rescue operation that involves the location, extrication, and initial medical stabilization of victims trapped in an urban area, namely structural collapse due to natu ...
teams to the tornado-hit areas, and provided incident command personnel to organize and support rescue efforts. The
Oklahoma National Guard The Oklahoma National Guard, a division of the Oklahoma Military Department, is the component of the United States National Guard in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It comprises both Army (OKARNG) and Air (OKANG) National Guard components. The Governo ...
was also deployed. Governor Mary Fallin requested assistance from then-President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
who declared a major disaster in the state and ordered federal aid to the affected areas. Governor Fallin quickly dismissed an idea to make a law that would require all schools in Oklahoma to have a shelter that would protect children during severe weather (prior to the tornado, only two of the twelve schools in the Moore Public Schools district had storm shelters, Kelley Elementary and Westmoore High School, which were rebuilt with concrete safe rooms after both were destroyed in the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado).
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...
, McClain,
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, and Pottawatomie Counties received federal funding for hazard mitigation measure statewide. Obama visited the disaster-stricken areas on May 26. The third season finale of the sitcom ''
Mike & Molly ''Mike & Molly'' is an American television sitcom created by Mark Roberts on CBS. It premiered on September 20, 2010, and aired 127 episodes over six seasons. The series stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as the eponymous Mike and Molly, ...
'', titled "Windy City", was pulled by
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
from its original May 20 airdate within hours of the event due to the episode featuring a plotline involving a tornado descending on
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
; the network later rescheduled the episode to air ten days later on May 30, 2013. At noon on May 21, the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
held a moment of silence for the victims. Delegates from several countries and
Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
offered condolences, and the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
offered assistance in the recovery efforts. The
Canadian Red Cross The Canadian Red Cross Society ()American counterparts, to assist with disaster relief and recovery. The United Methodist Committee on Relief,
Direct Relief Direct Relief (formerly known as Direct Relief International) is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical assistance and disaster relief in the United States and internationally. The organization is headed by an inde ...
,
Matt Kemp Matthew Ryan Kemp (born September 23, 1984) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He began his professional career in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 2003, and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Dodgers fr ...
of the
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
,
Kevin Durant Kevin Wayne Durant ( ; born September 29, 1988), also known by his initials KD, is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season of college basketball for t ...
of the
Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...
, Continental Resources,
Devon Energy Devon Energy Corporation is an energy company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States. It is organized in Delaware and its corporate operative headquarters are in the 50-story Devon Energy Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Its ...
, ONEOK,
Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in th ...
,
Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 969 stores in 47 US states. Hobby Lobby is owned by ...
, and
Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...
all pledged donations to the relief efforts. Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis stated that he would attempt to get an
ordinance Ordinance may refer to: Law * Ordinance (Belgium), a law adopted by the Brussels Parliament or the Common Community Commission * Ordinance (India), a temporary law promulgated by the President of India on recommendation of the Union Cabinet * ...
passed requiring storm shelters or
safe room A safe room or panic room is a fortified room that is installed in a private residence or business to provide a safe shelter, or hiding place, for the inhabitants in the event of a break in, home invasion, tornado, terror attack, or other thr ...
s in new housing projects. On May 29, 2013,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
aired ''Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert'', a fundraising concert that was held at
Chesapeake Energy Arena Paycom Center (originally known as the Ford Center from 2002 to 2010, Oklahoma City Arena from 2010 to 2011, and Chesapeake Energy Arena from 2011 to 2021) is an arena located in Downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It opened in 200 ...
in downtown Oklahoma City. The benefit was hosted by country singer and Oklahoma native
Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single " Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...
and featured performances from
Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country singer and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place o ...
,
Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...
,
Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...
,
Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...
, Usher,
Darius Rucker Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Ca ...
and
Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Reco ...
. The concert raised more than $6 million for the
United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...
of Central Oklahoma. On June 2, 2013,
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
aired an hour-long documentary about the storm titled ''Mile-Wide Tornado: Oklahoma Disaster''. The documentary provides a comprehensive look at the tornado's impact and drew comparisons of the storm to the 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado. The Moore City Council proposed a measure making twelve changes to its residential building codes, include requiring that new home construction in the city include hurricane clips or framing anchors, continuous plywood bracing and wind-resistant garage doors in order for homes to withstand winds up to 135 mph (equivalent to a high-end EF2 tornado). When the measure was passed in a unanimous vote held on March 17, 2014, Moore became the first city in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to adopt a building code addressing the effects of tornadoes on homes, which exceed the national standards set by the
National Association of Home Builders The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States, representing the interests of home builders, developers, contractors, and associated businesses. NAHB is headquartered in Washington, D ...
.


See also

*
Tornadoes of 2013 This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 2013. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, Brazil and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tor ...
*
Tornado outbreak of May 18–21, 2013 The tornado outbreak of May 18–21, 2013 was a significant tornado outbreak that affected parts of the Midwestern United States and lower Great Plains. This event occurred just days after a deadly outbreak struck Texas and surrounding souther ...
*
List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks These are some notable tornadoes, tornado outbreaks, and tornado outbreak sequences that have occurred in North America. #''The listing is U.S.-centric, with greater and more consistent information available for U.S. tornadoes. Some North Americ ...
*
List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes This is a list of tornadoes which have been officially or unofficially labeled as F5, EF5, T10-T11, IF5, or an equivalent rating, the highest possible ratings on the various tornado intensity scales. These scales – the Fujita scale, the Enhance ...
*
List of tornado-related deaths at schools These are all known tornadoes resulting in student deaths at primary and secondary schools in the United States from 1865 to 2015. For the deadliest tornado incidents, only fires/explosions and bombings have killed more students. List * August ...
*
1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado On the evening of Monday, May 3, 1999, a large and exceptionally powerful F5 tornado registered the highest wind speeds ever measured globally; winds were recorded at by a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar. Considered the strongest tornado eve ...
– an even deadlier (rated F5) that struck nearby areas 14 years earlier * 2003 Moore tornado – a slightly weaker F4 tornado that struck similar areas almost ten years earlier * 2010 Moore – Choctaw tornado – a slightly weaker EF4 tornado that struck nearby areas three years earlier * 2013 El Reno tornado – The largest tornado on record that struck nearby areas 11 days later (rated at EF3) *
List of Cleveland County, Oklahoma tornadoes This is a list of tornadoes reported in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, Oklahoma. Cleveland County is located in Tornado Alley and experiences tornadoes frequently. The city of Moore, Oklahoma, Moore is located within the county and ...


References


External links


Preliminary Reconnaissance of the May 20, 2013, Newcastle-Moore Tornado in Oklahoma
(
National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
)
Moore, Oklahoma Tornadoes (1890–Present)
from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...


Videos

* * * *
Family that lived through the tornado


Maps

* [//google.org/crisismap/2013-oklahoma-tornado?hl=en&llbox=35.324705%2C35.318166%2C-97.513319%2C-97.527192&t=CUSTOM&layers=9%2C7%2C11%2C8%2Clayer2%2Clayer11%2C10%3A100 Satellite images of Moore taken on May 22, 2013 – two days after the tornado] from Google Crisis Response
Map of tornado path and damage
from ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
Map of tornadoes in OKC metro area since 1950
from the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''
2011 Moore City Map
from City of Moore
2013 Oklahoma City Metro Map
from Oklahoma Department Of Transportation {{10 costliest US tornadoes Moore tornado Moore tornado F5 tornadoes Tornadoes in Oklahoma Moore tornado May 2013 events in the United States